Woodside’s CEO steps down to take the reins at BP

December 18, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

UK-headquartered energy giant BP has revealed changes to its leadership team as its current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) resigns from the role, which will be handed over to an interim one until the current CEO of Australia’s energy giant Woodside wraps her current job and can take over the same role at the British firm.

Meg O’Neill leaving Woodside to serve as next CEO of BP; Courtesy of BP

BP’s board has appointed Meg O’Neill as the firm’s next CEO, effective April 1, 2026, after Murray Auchincloss decided to step down from his position as CEO and director of the board, effective December 18, 2025. As a result, Carol Howle, current Executive Vice President of Supply, Trading & Shipping, will serve as interim CEO until O’Neill joins the company. Auchincloss will serve in an advisory role until December 2026 to ensure a smooth transition.

Albert Manifold, Chair of BP, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Meg O’Neill to the BP team. Her proven track record of driving transformation, growth, and disciplined capital allocation makes her the right leader for BP. Her relentless focus on business improvement and financial discipline gives us high confidence in her ability to shape this great company for its next phase of growth and pursue significant strategic and financial opportunities.

“Following a comprehensive succession planning process, the Board believes this transition creates an opportunity to accelerate our strategic vision to become a simpler, leaner, and more profitable company. Progress has been made in recent years, but increased rigor and diligence are required to make the necessary transformative changes to maximise value for our shareholders.”

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Since O’Neill appointment as CEO in 2021, she has grown Woodside Energy into what BP describes as the largest energy company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. She oversaw the transformative acquisition of BHP Petroleum International, creating a geographically diverse business with a portfolio of high-quality oil and gas assets. Before joining Woodside in 2018, O’Neill spent 23 years at ExxonMobil in technical, operational and leadership positions around the world.

Auchincloss said: “After more than three decades with BP, now is the right time to hand the reins to a new leader. When Albert became Chair, I expressed my openness to step down were an appropriate leader identified who could accelerate delivery of BP’s strategy. I am confident that BP is now well positioned for significant growth and I look forward to watching the company’s future progress and success under Meg’s leadership.”

The UK-headquartered giant elaborates that the appointment of O’Neill follows a search process overseen by a search committee of the board, assisted by an independent recruitment firm, as part of the board’s long-term succession planning. Following her resignation, Woodside’s board has appointed Liz Westcott as Acting CEO, effective December 18, 2025. Westcott has led Woodside’s Australian Operations as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Australia since joining Woodside in June 2023.

BP’s incoming CEO said: “BP plays a critical role in delivering energy to customers around the world. I am honoured to serve as the company’s next CEO. With an extraordinary portfolio of assets, BP has significant potential to reestablish market leadership and grow shareholder value. I look forward to working with the BP leadership team and colleagues worldwide to accelerate performance, advance safety, drive innovation and sustainability and do our part to meet the world’s energy needs.”

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Westcott was previously the Chief Operating Officer at Energy Australia, following a 25-year career at ExxonMobil working in Australia, the United Kingdom and Italy, with her career spanning roles in strategic planning, operations, project management, and safety, technical and commercial leadership.

Richard Goyder, Woodside’s Chair, underlined: “The board’s appointment of Meg as CEO in 2021 set the foundation for Woodside’s transformational growth over recent years. This strong business performance has been translated into approximately $11 billion in dividends paid to shareholders since 2022, and a growth trajectory which is expected to deliver significant value.

“Meg leaves Woodside in a strong position, having led the company through the merger with BHP Petroleum, final investment decision on the Scarborough energy project, startup of the Sangomar project, final investment decision for the Louisiana LNG project, the Beaumont New Ammonia acquisition, introduction of a number of high quality partners in those projects and continued high performance across Woodside’s global operations portfolio.”

The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) opted to provide a comment on the appointment of O’Neill, CEO of Woodside, as BP’s new CEO.

Brynn O’Brien, Executive Director of ACCR, stated: “While BP has chronically underperformed the sector, Woodside has chronically underperformed BP. BP is right to be resetting its strategy and focusing on capital discipline to improve investor returns. However, Meg O’Neill is a curious choice in this context. Under O’Neill’s leadership Woodside has chased high-cost, marginal fossil fuel projects and not delivered satisfactory shareholder returns.

“The evidence is clear: exploring for and developing conventional upstream projects has eroded shareholder value at both BP and Woodside. Continuing with this strategy will not deliver the shareholder returns that BP’s board says it is prioritising.”

O’Brien is adamant that under O’Neill’s watch, Woodside has been the only company to “suffer a majority vote against its climate plan,” describing her departure as an opportunity for “a much-needed strategy refresh” that could signify “a circuit breaker” on the firm’s habit of pursuing high-capex, marginal fossil fuel projects.

“Woodside has an opportunity to move beyond rhetoric with capital discipline and genuinely prioritise its shareholders,” added Executive Director of ACCR.

“The board and the new CEO can now rethink the value destructive Browse project, which is more expensive than 70% of competing potential new gas supplies around the world, as well as the expansion of Louisiana LNG.”